School Smiles

Have you ever been assigned a major school project and had no clue how to handle it? Well that happened to me. The word “frustration” replaced my middle name. I had no clear plan of what to do or even how to go about such a project. The project was announced at the beginning of my sophomore year. We were supposed to do a service project that would benefit the community—and it was a graduation requirement.  
It needed to include a proposal, a time log, and a scholarly paper. If that wasn’t enough, we needed to deliver a 15-minute presentation about it to the Board of Directors before graduation.
“Great!” I thought, “Just when I am excited about graduating from high school.” Scared stiff, I prayed, “Please God, I’m going to need help with this one.”
I didn’t actually start work on the project until the summer of my junior year. My church was going down to La Paz, Mexico, for a mission trip and I thought I could satisfy the requirement by taking school supplies down to the children in that area. I proposed this idea to the school board and received approval but I had no clear direction and eventually dropped it. But I still wanted something that would bring smiles to children’s faces and help them “keep doing school” like I had been encouraged to do.
After seeing my frustration for several months, my mom suggested that I call our church to see if they had any service project ideas.
I called the Compassion Coordinator and set up a meeting for the next day. At the meeting, I learned that there were kids at the church and in the area with a huge need for school supplies. So kids and school would be connected. I became excited and the Compassion committee gave me direction and helped me set my goals.
The plan was to collect money for school supplies through donations, purchase supplies for the children, and finally distribute them to the kids in need. The church helped me set up my own bank account and gave me credit cards to Office Depot and Wal-Mart.
The frustration that had prevented me from accomplishing my goal started to fly like a bird out the window. I rewrote my proposal for the new project and received approval by the school board.
Project “Back to School—Can Break the Bank!” was off and running. I went to Wal-Mart to get the school lists for the different elementary schools in the area and then compiled two general lists, one for Kindergarten through Second grade and another for Third through Fifth grade. The general lists were typed up and inserted in the church bulletins for Saturday evening and Sunday morning services respectively along with money deposit envelopes. Then, I made myself available for two weekends at the Featured Ministry Booth to answer questions.
My goal was to collect $2,000 for school supplies. After the first weekend of collecting donations, I had $1,600. This more than doubled by the second weekend to $4,000. Neither I nor the pastoral staff made announcements; people just saw and responded to the bulletin insert by giving. Bursting with excitement, I drove to Office Depot to purchase the supplies. I had originally planned on putting each child’s school supplies into individual brown grocery bags to disperse, but it turned out there was enough money to buy backpacks and pencil boxes too.
My dad and I went to Wal-Mart to buy 120 backpacks and pencil boxes. God worked out the numbers perfectly. Four grocery carts overflowed with the items. It was so much fun! As a kid, my favorite part of going back to school was opening up all of the school supplies. I really wanted to get kids excited about school like my parents had done for me.
I organized an assembly line of friends to load each backpack with school supplies. We knew that the teachers would supply each child with daily material, but we wanted to give enough paper and pencils for the whole school year.
Next we passed out the backpacks. It didn’t matter if the children receiving the supplies were regular church goers or if they were only attending for the days when supplies were distributed. We believed that Christ would bring the right people to us. On August 26 and 27, parents filled out information cards about their kids to claim a backpack. The number of returned cards was less than the number of backpacks we’d purchased which meant that every child would get one.
The kids’ faces were amazing. I have never seen so many happy children. The comments were, “This is so cool. I have never had anything like this. I go to church and go home with a gift.” Later I dropped off the remaining backpacks at elementary schools within the district.
The project had a great ending and I had fun doing it. I’d been scared, but Jesus showed me that He was right there holding my hand and walking me through it. I also learned more about Jesus’ love. In the end, He helped me share that love with kids as well as my love for school.
Frustration had turned to contentment through prayer, by seeking help from others, by giving, and by trusting Jesus for His direction.

TIPS FOR YOUR PROJECT

�X A few tips to help you with the frustration, panic, and stomach turmoil of a graduation requirement or other major project:

�X Pray, pray, pray. Surrender the problem to God, remembering that He promises to take care of His child and show the way. Proverbs 20:24.

�X Make a list of things that you are passionate about. Ask, “How can I practically meet that need? Is fund raising involved? If so, will people be inspired to give?”

�X Call a brainstorming meeting to get close friends and family to help. Best ideas come from a group setting. Make a list of all possibilities. Keep it simple. Remember that bigger is not necessarily better.

�X Organize an outline from beginning to ending. Those helping you need to see that there will be a conclusion. Aim for a specified date on the calendar and make this known to all.

�X Watch the skeleton (basic) plan unfold one step at a time.

�X See the hand of God work. Don’t limit God.